Posts by darkhawk43

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the concept of "nature vs. nurture," but specifically through the lens of skill acquisition and professional discipline. We often talk about talent as something you’re just born with—a certain height, a certain hand-eye coordination, or a natural sense of rhythm. But lately, I’ve been looking at how much our physical environment and the specific cultural "vibe" we grow up in actually reshapes our fundamental instincts.

I was watching some old clips of different athletes and musicians recently, and it struck me how much their foundational movements seem to be a product of where they spent their formative years. It’s not just about what they were taught in a formal academy or a coached clinic; it’s about the subtle, unwritten rules of the environment. In some places, the emphasis is on raw, individualistic flair—showing off what you can do to stand out. In others, there’s this deep-seated, almost subconscious emphasis on fundamentals, spacing, and playing as a cohesive unit. You can almost see the difference in their posture or how they react under pressure.

It makes me wonder if we can ever truly "unlearn" the way we were raised. If you spend your childhood in a culture that prizes efficiency and tactical discipline, does that become a permanent part of your muscle memory? Or can you completely pivot and adopt a more aggressive, improvisational style if you move to a different environment later in life?

I look at people in my own life—my cousin is a classically trained cellist who grew up in a very rigid, traditional musical environment in Europe, and then moved to the States. When she started collaborating with jazz musicians here, it was like watching two different worlds collide. She had this impeccable, unbreakable technique, but she struggled for a long time to find that "loose" feeling that the American players have. It wasn't a lack of talent; it was like her very foundation was built on a different set of blueprints. Once she integrated the two, she became incredible, but that initial friction was so fascinating to watch.

I think this applies to more than just sports or music, too. It applies to how we solve problems at work, how we interact socially, and even how we handle stress. If you grow up in a place where "doing things the right way" is the absolute baseline, you might find yourself constantly frustrated by people who seem to prioritize speed or flash over substance. Conversely, if you're raised in a high-energy, "move fast and break things" kind of atmosphere, you might find traditional methods to be stifling and inefficient.

There’s a certain kind of "intellectual muscle memory" that develops when you’re young. It’s the way you process information and the way you perceive the "correct" way to execute a task. I’ve noticed that even when people try to change their style, those original roots tend to resurface during high-stakes moments. When the pressure is on and you don't have time to think, you revert to the most basic patterns you learned when you were ten or twelve years old.

I’m curious to hear what you guys think about this. Do you believe that our early environments set a "ceiling" or a "floor" for our potential in a specific field, or is the human ability to adapt truly limitless? Can someone completely overwrite their foundational training if they move to a new culture, or are we always going to be a hybrid of where we started and where we ended up?

John Doe is coming for Austria, and he’s coming for America too. You guys might as well just pack it up and head back to the USSR. 😁

Andrew Booth29 said:🧐

There you go—the conspiracy theorists are actually right for once. The Federal Reserve stepped in to rescue the European Union, just like everyone predicted. 🤣

Spot on prediction. 👍

The biggest fallout—assuming this mess actually gets worse—from the potential slide in German debt is that the core AAA nations led by Germany might technically lose the ability to bail out the rest of the Eurozone as they start sinking.

"If Germany has to pay higher costs for its borrowing, it's obvious it cannot help the entire euro zone. If German bond yields keep rising, that could even be a trigger for break-up of the euro," said Makoto Noji, a senior strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities.

.......

While those annoyingly low yields were a huge factor, some folks in the market are starting to sweat that Germany might be losing its legendary "safe haven" status, especially with the looming shadow of rising bailout costs as more Eurozone countries get hammered by the market.

Up until now, whether or not to bail out the periphery was mostly a question of whether the Germans actually had the political stomach to pull the trigger on transfers to indebted nations. For the Germans, keeping the Euro intact is pretty much essential; if things fall apart, forecasts suggest their currency would skyrocket, which is a total disaster for an export-heavy economy like theirs. Because of that, everyone assumed that if the crisis really hit the fan, the political will would eventually show up. But now that we're seeing signs the market doesn't even trust Germany's capacity to prop up the Eurozone, the whole game is changing. We're moving away from the political circus and staring straight at the actual structural rot within Eurozone countries. Even France's strength has been a massive question mark for a while now, thanks to sluggish growth and French banks being way too exposed to Italian debt and other struggling spots.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the empire:

Belgian bond yields' spread over German bonds soared to a new euro lifetime high also as the country -- without a formal government since elections last June -- struggles to agree on a deficit slashing budget for next year.

"Belgium has been torn by the division between the (Flemish speaking) north and the (French-speaking) south and is politically paralysed. It just looks like a microcosm of the entire euro zone," Noji said.

Investors were already unnerved by reports that Belgium is leaning on France to pay more into emergency support for failed Lender Dexia under a 90 billion euro ($120 billion) rescue deal that had appeared to have been agreed.

Global reaction:

Commodity currencies, unsettled by weak Chinese factory data, recouped some of the steep losses made on Wednesday but lacked momentum.

The Australian dollar slid to a seven-week low of $0.9664 on Wednesday before recovering to $0.9740 in Asia on Thursday.

"The underperformance in commodity currencies highlights the dominating concerns over global growth," BNP Paribas analysts said in a note.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...309231698.html

LONDON—Euro-zone bond markets suffered another selloff Tuesday, with investors especially dumping short-term debt after Spain was forced to pay a heavy price to auction its latest brace of Treasury bills

Kevin Gonzalez79 said:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15850569

I'm not sure if anyone else has picked up on this, but manufacturing output in China has hit its lowest level in 32 months. It’s glaringly obvious that the industrial engine has run out of buyers for its surplus goods. I fear we are all deeply interconnected; those fools cheering for the collapse of the European Union are essentially celebrating their own impending downfall.

At this rate, our greatest national assets might end up being nothing more than a patch of dirt in the countryside and a decent set of heavy-duty tools.

China is facing two major headaches. First, there's the absolute mess currently happening in the primary markets of the USA and the European Union. Second, there's the issue of wage convergence, which has eroded China's low-wage advantage so much that manufacturing is actually starting to migrate toward India, Vietnam, South America, and even Eastern Europe. Both of these are structural issues, not just some temporary cycle that's going to snap back to the old way of doing things.

When a single country enjoys nearly two decades of uninterrupted boom time—basically snatching the lion's share of global manufacturing—it’s pretty obvious you can't sustain that forever. A huge chunk of China's manufacturing growth has come directly at the expense of the rest of the world (if you do the math, roughly global GDP growth minus China's GDP growth equals the manufacturing lost elsewhere, about 5%). So, while demand for labor stays high in China, the rest of the world is losing its manufacturing base, causing labor costs to drop—which in turn tanks purchasing power while boosting competitiveness elsewhere. People have been talking about this for years, and frankly, I always found those predictions about what China would look like in 2050 hilarious, mostly because they were based on linear projections from the last twenty years. By the 2020s, the Chinese economic model will have to look fundamentally different than it did in the 2000s or 2010s.

Some people can't even string two coherent sentences together regarding what's actually happening, yet they still spew this absolute garbage—talking about the Alaska Russians as if that’s some realistic scenario we should even be debating in the same breath as the issues facing the Euro.

Are the Irish getting ready to ask for a bailout? That’s a new one. I follow the Irish media pretty closely every day, and from what I can tell, we Irish are still just decent Europeans who stay quiet and pay our bills. 😁

And regarding all this debt talk and that ZeroHedge graph, you really have to watch out for how bank debt is accounted for. As far as I know, every single deposit essentially becomes bank debt, which is why countries with massive financial hubs usually end up carrying huge amounts of banking debt. For instance, looking at that ZeroHedge chart, they completely missed Switzerland, where the combined external debt is roughly three times the GDP. Besides, Swiss and UK Treasury Bonds weren't even remotely affected by the Euro Crisis.

http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/GUKG10:IND

http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/GSWISS10:IND

Andrew Booth29 said:And who is going to step in and save anyone at this point? It’s hard to say... honestly, it's just a complete mess. 🤣

LvM is a legend—think about how this applies to the US today (and beyond):

"In the eyes of cranks and demagogues, interest is a product of the sinister machinations of rugged exploiters. The age-old disapprobation of interest has been fully revived by modern interventionism. It clings to the dogma that it is one of the foremost duties of good government to lower the rate of interest as far as possible or to abolish it altogether. All present-day governments are fanatically committed to an easy money policy."

🙏

China is staring down a "hard landing," and Japan is teetering on the edge of an epic tragedy...

If you want proof of how bad things have gotten, just look at the market's total lack of reaction to today's proposal from the European Commission for Eurozone Bonds. Two years ago, a move like this would have probably shielded Europeans from the current crises and prevented the misery we're seeing in Greece and potentially Italy. But today's market response tells a different story: Euro/USD is down 1.2%; Italy 10y Treasury Bonds are up 2.19% to 6.96%, and Spain's 10y bonds just hit a new peak at 6.64%. The EU elite is basically two years behind the curve.

Andrew Booth29 said:The Federal Reserve always jumps in to play savior and organizes bailouts for the EU... Now we just wait to see if they reopen those currency swaps, assuming they haven't already. 😬

"The wave-like motion hitting the economic system—those repetitive cycles where booms are inevitably met by depressions—is simply the unavoidable consequence of trying, over and over again, to force down market interest rates through credit expansion. There is no way to dodge the ultimate collapse of a boom fueled by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner or later." - LvM

It’s totally possible that the rest of the world might actually step in to stop the Euro from completely cratering. If you look back at history, it feels like we've seen this exact playbook before when people scrambled to save the Dollar or the Yen.

Andrew Booth29 said:The Federal Reserve always jumps in to play savior and organizes bailouts for the EU... Now we just wait to see if they reopen those currency swaps, assuming they haven't already. 😬

"The wave-like motion hitting the economic system—those repetitive cycles where booms are inevitably met by depressions—is simply the unavoidable consequence of trying, over and over again, to force down market interest rates through credit expansion. There is no way to dodge the ultimate collapse of a boom fueled by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner or later." - LvM

You just can't beat the fundamentals of the Austrian School. 🙏 🙏

Alexander Lewis said:All this talk about missiles and total collapse is honestly laughable. No matter what happens, the countries within the EU will still be standing exactly as they are today. You'll have an economy, you'll see some growth eventually, and frankly, the rest of the world—especially the US—is dealing with the exact same headaches.

In my view, the root of the crisis isn't a lack of a central bank willing to print endless cash to cover government deficits for people who can't stop spending everything they earn. The real issue is that we are sitting on massive deficits being financed by issuing new debt. Once interest rates cross that 5% threshold, the whole system breaks because the cost of servicing that debt becomes impossible for the state to manage.
The ideal way out isn't printing money and triggering inflation to wipe out debts (which also guts citizens' assets, savings, and investments). Instead, we need to break away from the current model of deficit spending and the primary issuance of money through banks that essentially take a cut of every single transaction in the economy.

If you want a prime example of how absurd today's system is, look at the US. Sure, they might be generating enough trillions right now to cover their own deficit, but this virtual "economy" has effectively caused the real one to collapse. The US produces very little; there aren't enough actual jobs. The only ones thriving are the top management tiers at financial institutions, who basically suck the life out of everyone else. If foreigners stop buying US T-bills, the Dollar faces a freefall. That would mean the end of the era where the US imports everything physical while exporting almost nothing of real value.

The current crisis in the EU feels orchestrated, almost as if it's designed to make T-bills and the Dollar look valuable again, likely because too many people transitioned to using the Euro for payments and reserves. Consequently, I expect this crisis to drag on for quite a while amidst political deadlock.

Look, when people throw around terms like "bazooka" or "ballistic missile," they aren't talking about some metaphysical destruction of the European Union and its member states. I mean, let’s be real—no matter what happens, houses, cars, and factories aren't just going to vanish from the face of the earth overnight. That’s just not how it works. These terms are strictly about the sheer financial firepower needed to backstop the current debt mess we're seeing in the Eurozone. Lately, you hear "big bazooka" used when people discuss the Federal Reserve's ability to just print money and engage in unlimited bond buying to keep things afloat. As for "ballistic missiles," that's a new one for me, but I'm guessing the author is implying that the only thing capable of saving the Eurozone from a total meltdown is a massive, coordinated international intervention led by the IMF and other sovereign powers sitting on mountains of credit.

Alexander Lewis Asks:
In my book, the root of this whole mess isn't just some central bank printing money like crazy to constantly bail out government deficits for a bunch of fools who can't stop spending everything they make the second it hits their hands. That’s just a symptom. The real issue is that we're sitting on these massive deficits being covered up by nothing but the constant issuance of new Treasury Bonds. Once interest rates cross that 5% threshold, the entire system breaks because the interest payments become way too massive for any government to actually service. It's simple math.
Look, the real way out of this mess isn't just printing endless piles of cash and letting inflation eat everyone's debts—not to mention nuking the savings, property, and investments of regular citizens in the process. No, the actual solution is breaking away from this broken model of deficit spending and the constant primary money issuance through banks, who basically demand their cut of every single transaction in the economy.

Honestly, the absolute peak of stupidity in today’s system has to be the US. Sure, they might be printing enough trillions right now to mask their own deficit, but this whole virtual "economy" thing has basically nuked the real one. There's hardly anything being produced here anymore, and actual jobs are becoming a myth; the only people actually winning are the top-tier finance execs who spend their lives sucking the life out of everyone else. If foreign investors decide they're done buying up US T-bills, the Dollar is going to take a massive nose dive. That would mean the end of this insane era where we just import every single physical thing imaginable while exporting next to nothing of any real value.

Look, everything you're saying sounds great on paper and I basically agree with your point, except your context is completely backwards. Discussing what caused the fire and how you're going to repaint your living room walls right after the blaze is just totally inappropriate while the house is still burning down and the kids are stuck on the first floor. No amount of fiscal discipline is going to save the Eurozone right now—that should be obvious by now, especially since every single attempt at budget cuts has either already spectacularly failed, like in Greece, or is teetering right on the edge of disaster, looking at Italy and Spain.

Now that they’ve finally put out the fire here in the US, the logical next step would be to actually start walking the path of fiscal consolidation—but unfortunately, that’s just not happening. Meanwhile, over in the Eurozone, any attempt to even sit down and discuss a fundamental reform of how sovereign debt works isn't going to do a damn thing right now.

Alexander Lewis said:All this talk about missiles and total collapse is honestly laughable. No matter what happens, the countries within the EU will still be standing exactly as they are today. You'll have an economy, you'll see some growth eventually, and frankly, the rest of the world—especially the US—is dealing with the exact same headaches.

In my view, the root of the crisis isn't a lack of a central bank willing to print endless cash to cover government deficits for people who can't stop spending everything they earn. The real issue is that we are sitting on massive deficits being financed by issuing new debt. Once interest rates cross that 5% threshold, the whole system breaks because the cost of servicing that debt becomes impossible for the state to manage.
The ideal way out isn't printing money and triggering inflation to wipe out debts (which also guts citizens' assets, savings, and investments). Instead, we need to break away from the current model of deficit spending and the primary issuance of money through banks that essentially take a cut of every single transaction in the economy.

If you want a prime example of how absurd today's system is, look at the US. Sure, they might be generating enough trillions right now to cover their own deficit, but this virtual "economy" has effectively caused the real one to collapse. The US produces very little; there aren't enough actual jobs. The only ones thriving are the top management tiers at financial institutions, who basically suck the life out of everyone else. If foreigners stop buying US T-bills, the Dollar faces a freefall. That would mean the end of the era where the US imports everything physical while exporting almost nothing of real value.

The current crisis in the EU feels orchestrated, almost as if it's designed to make T-bills and the Dollar look valuable again, likely because too many people transitioned to using the Euro for payments and reserves. Consequently, I expect this crisis to drag on for quite a while amidst political deadlock.

And honestly, that is just straight-up nonsense. It’s blindingly obvious that the root of the crisis lies in the lack of functional mechanisms within the Euro, certain countries in the EU being drowning in debt, the sheer inertia of the EU elite, and those pathetic, slim chances for growth in highly leveraged economies. The Eurozone is dealing with structural flaws just like the US does; the only real difference is that the US actually has a lender of last resort in the form of the Federal Reserve, whereas the Eurozone countries are basically left out in the cold.

neonhound18 said:

darkhawk43 As the user mentioned:
"A mere bazooka just isn't going to cut it anymore," remarked Mitchell Goldberg, the head over at ClientFirst Strategy. "At this stage, we really ought to be looking toward inter-continental ballistic missiles. The situation is deteriorating at a rather alarming rate."

I find myself wondering what lies ahead for the Euro and the European Union—whether we are looking at more complications for the US and its allies, or if the more pressing question is actually what the EU will eventually transform into. It’s one of those heavy, sweeping inquiries that makes you pause, isn't it? One wonders if there is any meaningful way for a nation like ours to navigate these shifts, or if we are simply watching the slow metamorphosis of an entire political structure into something unrecognizable.

The whole point of the European Union has always been centered around free trade and letting capital and labor move wherever they need to go. Honestly, every single country in the EU has thrived because of that setup. That core part of the EU isn't just going to fall apart, and once America joins the fold, we’re going to see all the benefits that come with that kind of integration.

The real downside of the EU is this whole vibe of forced integration being shoved down the throats of citizens—well, those lucky few who actually got a say via referendum. The Euro is basically the poster child for this kind of forced togetherness. Honestly, the Euro was half-baked from day one. Critics have been screaming about the lack of actual crisis management tools since the beginning, and they weren't wrong. The core pillars of the Maastricht Treaty—that 3% budget balance and the 60% debt-to-GDP ceiling—were basically toothless, especially considering how blatantly they were ignored in the early years by the very same people now preaching fiscal discipline. Back when it suited them in the early part of the last decade, Germany and France just tossed that 3% deficit limit out the window, while plenty of other countries weren't even remotely close to hitting that 60% debt cap. For the peripheral nations—the ones currently drowning in crisis—the Euro has been an absolute disaster. They lost all their competitive edge because of inflation driven by a "one size fits all" monetary policy that kept interest rates low whenever it benefited Germany or France. Let’s be real: the Eurozone was never designed to be an optimal currency union, mostly because there were zero mechanisms in place to balance out economies that were at completely different stages of the business cycle.

To quote Herbert Stain, "if something cannot go on forever, it will stop." It’s pretty obvious that the current setup isn't sustainable, which means we're basically just waiting for something massive to hit the fan. Greece is already broke, while Italy and Spain are getting hammered by interest rates that are just plain impossible to maintain—they're likely going to get kicked off the bond market entirely very soon. Even the Stability Fund isn't beefy enough to cover what Italy and Spain actually need, and honestly, even its ability to bail out Greece, Spain, or Ireland is looking shaky at best. Why? Well, for one, the fund itself just dealt with a disastrous US Treasury auction, and more importantly, its whole ability to raise cash relies on the AAA ratings of Germany and France—both of whom are starting to stumble, especially France. Meanwhile, over in Greece, the political parties can't stop bickering long enough to reach a compromise, meaning they could run completely out of cash to meet their obligations within two weeks. The whole model being forced on everyone by the big players—this obsession with deflation and brutal austerity—simply isn't working.

Greece is basically broke at this point, and we’re likely looking at a chaotic default, a messy return to the Drachma, and a future spent living off IMF loans.

Spain and Italy aren't exactly insolvent right now, but they’re going to run into some serious liquidity issues pretty damn fast. If you look at Italy—once you strip away those massive interest payments—they actually show a budget surplus. My bet? Italy will likely exit the Euro altogether and try to stabilize things through an organized default backed by the IMF.

Spain might look okay on paper with a relatively low debt-to-GDP ratio, but let's be real—their banks are sitting on losses they haven't even had the guts to admit yet. There’s a chance Spain stays in the Eurozone, but honestly, I could see them jumping ship pretty easily if they wanted to reclaim their own central bank's power to act as a lender of last resort. It’s the same story for Italy and Greece, though Greece is going to have a much harder time since their central bank won't have nearly the same credibility as what you'd see in Italy or Spain.

This kind of development would actually give the market some much-needed breathing room. The current chaos we’re seeing—with the Euro sliding and everyone dumping their Treasury Bonds across the entire Eurozone—is really just a direct result of the uncertainty caused by the EU leadership's sheer incompetence and indecision. If things actually move in this direction, the market might finally start trusting that AAA core of Europe again, which could actually keep the rest of the Eurozone from falling apart, provided they commit to some serious fiscal integration.

Continuing down this current policy path is absolutely going to lead to a messy, disorganized collapse of the Eurozone, an uncoordinated default in Italy, and massive headaches for both Spain and France—not to mention a total nightmare for Germany and the entire global economy. If the Eurozone keeps doubling down on what they're doing right now, their only prayer is getting some kind of bailout from the IMF, China, and to a certain extent, the US.

“A bazooka isn't going to cut it anymore,” Mitchell Goldberg, the head over at ClientFirst Strategy, was saying. “At this point, we’re going to need ICBMs. Things are spiraling south fast.”

US Treasury Auction Disaster Stirs Crisis Contagion Concern; Treasury Bonds, Euro Fall

US Treasury yield spike after Germany failed to get bids for 35 percent of the 10-year bonds offered for sale today, propelling US markets higher and Dollar lower on concern the region’s debt crisis is driving away investors.

wow. This is moving way faster than I anticipated. There are really only two ways to save the Euro in its current state.

One is for the Federal Reserve to start buying up massive amounts of bonds (without essentially monetizing the debt), but they lack a federal taxing authority like we have here in the US to back the central bank and guarantee Euro issuances. A central bank can only act as a lender of last resort if the currency itself is sovereign. By joining the Euro in this specific setup, Eurozone countries basically surrendered that central banking function. Not a single country in the Eurozone today actually possesses a sovereign lender of last resort. That’s exactly why Europeans ended up begging the Chinese and the IMF to step in and help bail out nations that are either totally insolvent (like Greece) or just drowning in liquidity issues (like Italy).

The second option is for the Eurozone to issue common bonds. Both paths require massive transfers of wealth from the rich north to the struggling south, which is a political non-starter. Even if there were any political will to do it, the sheer bureaucracy of how the Eurozone is structured means institutionalizing either solution would take a massive amount of time—time they simply don't have left. Plus, that first option carries a huge inflation risk, something there is absolutely zero political appetite for in Germany.

At this point, it feels increasingly likely that the peripheral nations will just exit the Euro entirely. We might even see a total collapse, especially since some analyses suggest an exit would actually make sense for France too.

Justin Sullivan3 said:😲

God, there were crowds gathered there like they were at a Broadway show—you ever actually been to one? 😁

And is this even about actual criminals, or just stupidity (cheating on a spouse, shoplifting, insulting the King...)?

😁briskhound33, you're way too obsessed with the LGBTQ+ crowd—maybe this is coming from some personal desires of yours?
It doesn't matter if they are... there's nothing wrong with that... unless, of course, you live in Saudi Arabia. 😁

I didn't even dress properly for the occasion. 😁

And just like you can see in the photo, women find these scenes pretty revolting. Honestly, anyone whining about women not being allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia has clearly never actually seen what driving is like over there. Every single time I head home from work, it reminds me of that time I was ripping around in a Caterham 7 during the Bahrain F1 circuit.

We’re being too "humane" toward women here. We're basically traumatizing them.

Justin Sullivan3 said:😲

God, there were crowds gathered there like they were at a Broadway show—you ever actually been to one? 😁

And is this even about actual criminals, or just stupidity (cheating on a spouse, shoplifting, insulting the King...)?

😁briskhound33, you're way too obsessed with the LGBTQ+ crowd—maybe this is coming from some personal desires of yours?
It doesn't matter if they are... there's nothing wrong with that... unless, of course, you live in Saudi Arabia. 😁

The guys broke into a house, robbed it, and killed the guy. It's a clear-cut case. In Japan, they'd be out there executing people for stuff like this. Nothing surprising here.

By the way, this hand-cutting thing has been around for a while now, and stoning is mostly limited to those remote backwoods areas, much like in Iran, Afghanistan, and so on.

Justin Sullivan3 said:From left to right:

The guy with the mustache is rigid and authoritative—if she doesn't listen, he’ll deliver an instant slap. He thinks he can do whatever he wants with her, and if there isn't a hot meal waiting when he gets home from work, there's going to be trouble. To him, she's just property, like a house or a car, and the woman lives in constant fear of being beaten.

To the right of the mustache, the guy is completely checked out. He's just waiting for this whole thing to wrap up so he can go home and ignore his wife for the rest of his life. It's all just a performance for the relatives; he probably lost this marriage lottery by getting some ugly corpse, so he'll likely just pick up another wife later to see if his luck improves next time.

In the middle, we have the traditionalist—dignified and proud. He lives strictly by the rules of the Quran; his Islamic duty is to be a family man and provide for his wife and kids. Everything will be fine, and he'll have a good life... unless the tension and frustration from living under a dictatorship and the constant brainwashing at the mosque merges with some life trauma. Then, he leaves his family, starts messing around with TNTom, and catches the martyr express toward some Western city to find those promised virgins.

The second one from the right actually loves his wife, but he curses the fact that they have to live in such a messed-up country. His parents criticize him because he doesn't discipline her properly or keep her in line (she's too cheerful and always smiling, which in their eyes clearly means she's plotting something bad).

The last one is terrified. If he lived anywhere else, he would never get married because he could never say a single word to his wife without bowing his head. She'll have to be the one to initiate sex—even if she finds the whole thing repulsive—because if she ever tries anyone else, it's stoning in the main square.

There you go, it's Gordon—you claim to know Saudi people, so how was my psychoanalysis of the faces in this photo? Did I nail it? 😁

Speaking of public squares, I actually got stuck in some ridiculous gridlock just half a mile from the office for about 20 minutes this morning. I asked a coworker what the hell was going on, and he just goes:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iqmBaMu9EB.../beheading.JPG

http://www.news24.com/World/News/Sau...urder-20110710

😁

Man, I tell ya. It's not like anyone in the United Kingdom is actually going to waste their precious social programs trying to fix those guys.

Justin Sullivan3 said:From left to right:

The guy with the mustache is rigid and authoritative—if she doesn't listen, he’ll deliver an instant slap. He thinks he can do whatever he wants with her, and if there isn't a hot meal waiting when he gets home from work, there's going to be trouble. To him, she's just property, like a house or a car, and the woman lives in constant fear of being beaten.

To the right of the mustache, the guy is completely checked out. He's just waiting for this whole thing to wrap up so he can go home and ignore his wife for the rest of his life. It's all just a performance for the relatives; he probably lost this marriage lottery by getting some ugly corpse, so he'll likely just pick up another wife later to see if his luck improves next time.

In the middle, we have the traditionalist—dignified and proud. He lives strictly by the rules of the Quran; his Islamic duty is to be a family man and provide for his wife and kids. Everything will be fine, and he'll have a good life... unless the tension and frustration from living under a dictatorship and the constant brainwashing at the mosque merges with some life trauma. Then, he leaves his family, starts messing around with TNTom, and catches the martyr express toward some Western city to find those promised virgins.

The second one from the right actually loves his wife, but he curses the fact that they have to live in such a messed-up country. His parents criticize him because he doesn't discipline her properly or keep her in line (she's too cheerful and always smiling, which in their eyes clearly means she's plotting something bad).

The last one is terrified. If he lived anywhere else, he would never get married because he could never say a single word to his wife without bowing his head. She'll have to be the one to initiate sex—even if she finds the whole thing repulsive—because if she ever tries anyone else, it's stoning in the main square.

There you go, it's Gordon—you claim to know Saudi people, so how was my psychoanalysis of the faces in this photo? Did I nail it? 😁

The only thing actually bothering me about your "analysis" is the fact that these guys in the picture aren't even Saudi people to begin with. 😁 😁

Based on physiognomy and my years of experience dealing with folks in that part of the world, you're looking at Pakistani people or maybe Bangladeshi people. Plus, let's be real: Saudi men don't show up to weddings wearing Western-style suits.

Justin Sullivan3 said:Progress is being made—the government finally admitted they exist and granted them the exact same rights as men; no more 🤣

Let’s try a little thought experiment: would you rather be free as a Greek person in a collapsing economy, or filthy rich as a Saudi person in a country where you have zero political rights?

Well, if you're a wealthy Saudi person, you actually *do* have political rights. In this part of the world, all the power plays are built on tribal connections, so having the chance to make serious money is tied directly to your tribal ties and your ability to participate in "politics." Honestly, I’d take being a rich Saudi person over being a Greek person any day. There’s a whole list of other messed-up nations I’d pick before even considering wanting to be Greek. You can mock me all you want, but from where I'm sitting (right here in Saudi Arabia 👋), the political landscape in a lot of North American countries doesn't look much different from the political life in Saudi Arabia.

jadeorca42 said:So, what’s the actual point here? Is it that we, the Non-Aligned, aren't needed as a market of billions, and instead, we should just pivot toward a "friendly" West—where the competition is cutthroat and the consumers are spoiled rotten? Good luck to us, I guess. We’ve been part of the West and inside NATO for two years now, and everything is just coming up roses...

The whole point is that America has basically zero potential to export anything to anyone, so it doesn't really matter which specific group we're targeting.

Look, don't go thinking you can just haul two or three tons of Kraš onto the shelves and call it a day. What exactly are you expecting—that Jadranka Kosor is going to show up at a trade fair in Washington, D.C. and personally broker the deal for you?

😁

Look, we can bring top-tier consultants to the table and partner up with world-renowned mining and logistics giants. And hey, if they happen to have any trouble selling their raw materials for cold, hard cash, we’re more than happy to settle up in tungsten and chrome. I honestly don't know where you're getting these ideas—thinking anyone would struggle to move commodities for cash, or that America has some magical capacity that could compete on the other side of the planet when we can't even land decent contracts back home?